Just Desserts
2019 May 9 1999 VHS # 2019 May 9 # 2019 May 10 # The Last Tough Customer # Trick or Treat # Arthur's Family Vacation ---- ---- To start this one, Arthur's reading a book. It sounds like he's reading something pretty scary. He stops himself to venture, "I bet you thought I was reading a Scare Your Pants Off book!" Arthur explains that what he's really reading is fairy tales, which have things like talking pigs and two-headed trolls. Pig: And I was doing this long before Babe! Yes, that's Babe the "sheep-pig." We have the DVD at my house. We had the video. Babe was/is a favorite of mine. Funny that they'd reference Babe directly though, in comparison to how they have in Arthur's universe, oh, say "Vegemorph" books. Anyway, Arthur explains that he once thought that fairy tales were really babyish... ---- Once upon a time there was a boy named Arthur, whose Dad was an amazing cook... ---- Title card: I've never seen this before. A fairy D.W. comes down on string with a wand, and uses it to make Arthur appear. She then uses it to change Arthur's head to that of a frog. ---- ---- We open the episode with Arthur standing in front of a huge cake. (...and desperately hoping that this episode will break the trend of lousy Season Five episodes.) Arthur wants to know what kind of cake it is. It's complicated, but the crux of the matter is that it's for a wedding, and Arthur's not getting any. Dad suggests that when Grandma Thora comes over to babysit, she might make her "Chocolate Cookie Crunch". Arthur imagines himself biting into a cookie. Arthur: Ouch! My teeth! What? I thought Grandma Thora gave up cooking after the events of [http://www.angelfire.com/ma2/ecdc/12002.htm #12002 - "The Half-Baked Sale"]. Why does she allow herself to continue to suffer like this? The next day Arthur's in Ratburn's class, watching a video about ocean life. Buster's snoring and Arthur's in his dream world. By now, we're not even bothering about continuity within seasons... One might expect after the big deal that was the visit to the ocean in [http://www.angelfire.com/ma2/ecdc/50302.htm #50302 - "The Shore Thing"] that Arthur and Buster would be very interested in anything ocean-related. Oh well... The voice from the video explains, "Many creatures live on or near the ocean floor, such as the sea cucumber, the jellyfish, and the wedding cake..." The wedding cake is pictured as a squid. Arthur mumbles to himself dreamily, "peanut butter toffees." Peanut butter toffees? On a wedding cake? Somebody please tell me when this became an ideal choice. School's over, and Arthur's still obsessed. He and Buster are walking together towards Arthur's. Buster: I don't about you, but I thought it was a piece of cake. Arthur: You've got cake?! Can I have some?! Did somebody say "cake"? Naturally, Buster was talking about something else, the history exam. Arthur explains his predicament to Buster; how he can't have any of the wedding cake and Grandma Thora's coming over. Buster's worried because she's going to make "that cheesy tuna noodle thing. Wait a sec. This is enough to scare Buster? I thought he'd eat anything. Oh wait, never mind. Season Five. Buster decides that if this is the case, Arthur had better stock up on *real* food. To do so, they visit Gula's Candy Emporium. * * * Candy treats tumble down to the next scene. Arthur's at his bed with the candy. He surveys it and declares it to be, " a balanced meal of all major food groups." With this brilliant conclusion, Arthur walks out of the room to -- gasp!!! -- dinner. Arthur wants to know where the "cheesy tuna noodle thing" is. Grandma Thora explains that the food (a grand meal, with a main course of turkey) was left by Dad. D.W.'s ecstatic, but she quickly covers her enthusiasm with "How nice! You don't have to do any work Grandma!" Arthur, however, is just gloomy. Grandma Thora explains that if they finish dinner she has a surprise for them. D.W. and Arthur are excited by this. They both blurt out what they think it could be, but neither are right. It's the wedding cake! Dad left them some after all! Arthur's not too sure about it though. He says that he'll take "just one tiny bite..." Next thing we know, Arthur's plopping down onto the couch with a stomachache. D.W. tells him that it serves him right for eating two slices of cake! I believe it was supposed to have ended with'' '#30702 - "Dad's Dessert Dilemma."'' However these types of things have a tendency to keep returning and returning, see #40502 - "The Rat Who Came to Dinner." Oh, and also, it's Season Five. Grandma Thora says that she'll read to Arthur because that's what she did when he got sick when he was younger. Better that than an oatmeal bath. #11801 - "Arthur's Chicken Pox". D.W. wants to hear fairy tales. Arthur suggests the new "Scare Your Pants Off" title, "Bloodsucking Beavers of Bavaria." Grandma Thora says that the fairy tales will be just as frightening. Arthur: Maybe if you're a baby Here we go again. Hasn't Arthur gotten over this yet? I mean he's only had like 50 million or so episodes to do it. I guess maybe a little professional guidance is in order. Here we go again, Arthur's prejudice against a particular genre of story is going to be set straight. Yawn. See #40101 - "D.W.'s Library Card" and'' '#40601 - "D.W. Tale Spins". D.W. sits on the arm of the chair by Grandma Thora. She begins reading "Hansel and Gretel." Arthur begins to fantasize... ---- ''Arthur (Hansel) imagines himself in a forest with D.W. (Gretel). He's wearing liederhosen, and D.W. has on a cute blue and white outfit. Arthur asks where they are. D.W.: Oh dear brother, we are stuck in a deep dark forest with only a crust of bread. Arthur says that she can have his piece. D.W. explains that the bread isn't for eating anyway. It's to mark a trail home. However, "some animal" (a giant Buster) has been eating the crumbs, so they're lost. They stop to comment on their clothing. Arthur's tired of wearing his leather shorts, "they may be cute, but I'm freezing." D.W.'s freezing too. All she gets is a lace dress. They start to wander through the forest and get even more lost. D.W. comments that they'll probably get eaten by bloodsucking beavers. Just as she makes this depressing suggestion, things look up. They come upon a house! Plus, it's made entirely of candy! A Ratburn-witch appears at the upstairs window. Ratburn-Witch: Well, well, well. What have we here? Two scrumptious little children! Arthur comments that the house is very "tastefully decorated." Ratburn-witch takes them to see something better, the "Sugar Mall." They go in. Arthur comments that the sight of all the candy is making him sick. Ratburn-witch takes out a tape measure and declares Arthur a "medium." Arthur and D.W. end up locked behind bars. The bars, however, are made of candy canes. D.W. suggests that they might be able to lick their way out. Just then Tommy and Timmy Tibble run up and shove Ratburn-witch into the oven and free Arthur and D.W. D.W.: Tommy! Timmy! You saved us! They explain that they're not Tommy and Timmy. They're Pesky, Whiny, Grouchy, Angry, Noisy, Creepy, and Stinky! They declare that D.W. is their princess, Doe White, and haul her off because it's her "nap-time. Where did the Tibble septuplets come from? They came out of nowhere to kill Ratburn? I know that it's Arthur's dream, but it's just stupid and unentertaining. (maybe they followed them from the "Candy Mall") Well, who else were they going to have to play the role of the seven dwarves anyway? Arthur decides to go to Grandma Thora's to get help. As he runs off, Binky sees him. Binky: (holding a piece of chocolate cake) Nice pants Arthur! Where's the flood?! Arthur: I gotta get something else to wear! Little Red Riding Hood Arthur ignores this and heads to "Grandma's". "Grandma" looks suspiciously like Dad's wedding cake. Arthur says that "Grandma" has very creamy skin. "Grandma" says that it's her new moisturizer. Arthur also notes that she has very frosty hair and dark chocolaty eyes! "Grandma" says, "the better to be eaten by you!" She jumps into Arthur's mouth! That Grandma cake thing was dumb. I wonder what Thora flavor tested like (most likely bitter and old)? Whatever it is, I wouldn't want to find out :P Well, hey, the cake is sort of a centerpiece for the episode, so what else is Grandma Thora going to be besides the wedding cake? D.W.: Arthur Read! Did you eat Grandma?! Arthur sputters that it wasn't Grandma, but D.W.'s not impressed. She rambles on about how she spent all day cooking and cleaning for the Tibbles. Huh? Why'd she have to cook and clean for them? I thought she was their princess. Or are we mixing Snow White and Cinderella? Just then "Buster the Woodcutter" comes in, and says that he'll get Grandma Thora out of Arthur. He declares Arthur to be "a grandma-eating-wolf disguised as Arthur." Or maybe even, "a grandma-eating-alien disguised as a grandma-eating-wolf disguised as Arthur." Had to get the alien angle in there somewhere, eh Buster? :) Buster: Stand back! Buster begins to swing his ax. Mercfully, the fantasy sequence ends. ---- Arthur wakes up. Grandma Thora asks if he is all right. D.W. suggests that he was scared by the faery tales. Grandma Thora gives him some sort of antacid tablets and he goes off to bed. Having gone back to bed, Arthur goes back to his little fantasy-land. ---- Arthur climbs up the beanstalk, grumbling about the need for an elevator. At the top is a tower, a hollowed out version of the wedding cake. Arthur: Boy, this place is bigger than Home Hardware Heaven. Ah, Home Hardware Heaven. Read Lowe's, True Value, Home Depot, etc. Of course we're already familiar with the writers' distaste of big box stores, see #12402- "D.W. Gets Lost." Arthur runs smack into a goose, whose eyes start rolling. He grabs it for D.W. Suddenly, we hear footsteps! It's a giant! Giant: Fee-fi-fo-fum! It's everything Arthur's ever eaten! This was the worst. I think it's real gross, at least it wasn't "everything that came out of Arthur that he ever ate in his life for 8 1/2 years", now that would be pushing it. Well, anyway, the giant wants his goose. Arthur hops down off the castle, hoping that "this one is one of those dreams where I can fly." It isn't, but Arthur survives the fall. D.W. loves the goose, but they've got a more pressing concern -- the Giant! So it's "Buster the Woodcutter" to the rescue! Proof positive that Buster hasn't knocked off the hero stuff he started in #20601- "Buster Baxter, Cat Saver." It turns out that Buster's also a licensed beanstalk-cutter. He flashes a license to prove it, then cuts down the beanstalk, ending Arthur's fantasy sequence. ---- Arthur burps, and grabs his glasses. Arthur: I feel much better! I guess that last fairy tale did the trick! We're taken to a picture of Arthur, drawn by Arthur, getting up from his bed, in Arthur's diary. Since when did Arthur start keeping a diary? He states directly in #21401- "Sue Ellen's Lost Diary" that he doesn't. Oh, oops, wait, sorry, Season Five. I forgot. Arthur: ...and from then on Arthur never ate too much candy. And he lived happily ever after. A chocolate bar tumbles to the ground. Arthur laments... Arthur: Maybe the happily ever after part will come true? More fodder for the belief that Arthur is a bad influence, the "aardvark from hell." See the old voting results. END. "Just Desserts" was hillarious. I thought it was going to be one of those "special" stories like #40401- "The Contest or #30202 - "I'd Rather Read it Myself." I suppose this one is like one of them, except that those were good. This story sucked. Well, if you want to compare this with other episodes, it should be noted that this one is bunched in with #21002 - "Buster Hits the Books and #40601- "D.W. Tale Spins" on the Arthur's Storybook video. Once again, I got this from my library, the Dayton & Montgomery County Public Library. ''Scare Your Pants Off? ''Why is Arthur reading "Scare Your Pants Off" again, besides Season Five I thought it was agreed in #40601 - "D.W. Tales Spins" that "Vegemorph" books make "Scare Your Pants Off" books look like kids stuff. Interestingly enough, I stopped reading the series that "Scare Your Pants Off" parodies, Goosebumps. On the other hand, I've read all of the "Animorphs" books including the last one ever written, which was just released this month. Unlike Goosebumps, that remained a consistently excellent series to read. Commentary I've included some commentary by SC that was originally posted at the Arthur UBB at this location. Cover Images I've included cover images in this review, taken from the covers of Jack and the Beanstalk, retold by Ann Keay Beneduce, and Grimm's Tales For Young and Old, translated by Ralph Mainheim. It shouldn't be overly difficult to figure out which is which. Season Five! Well, as some undoubtedly have noticed, I've been doing a lot of roasting of Season 5. To be perfectly honest, I think Season Five was a rip, a waste of American Taxpayer's moneyand an embarassment to Arthur's sponsors. Personally, I think if I had my way, we might just pretend that Season Five never existed. Go straight from Season Four to Season Six. However, there's another part of me that says that's wrong, and we have to acknowledge "Arthur," both good and bad. Overall, I say, just as long as we can make fun of it! Well, I said in my last review that the next thing coming from me would be something for the soapbox, or a re-done review from an earlier season. That was before my library got the "Arthur's Storybook" video. Now that I have a VCR where the record feature actually works, stay tuned! There's a lot more to come! Category:Episodes Category:Warner, Home Video, 1999, VHS